The Science Fiction of Today and Days Gone By

Comic book movies, like those in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, are far more popular than the comics from which they originate. Indeed, some of that even goes back to early TV series like the Bill Bixby Incredible Hulk or Adam West’s Batman, which served as the faces for those heroes to the public well outside the comic demographics. In spite of this, though, almost everyone going to see Iron Man or Wonder Woman in theaters knows that they’re characters from comic books.

Then there are other movies, where few people even know it was originally adapted from another medium at all. The success of the film so totally eclipsed the source material that it’s almost completely unknown in comparison. And that’s where we find these, four films that have left the sources to languish in the shadows of their popularity.

In the time of episodic television, the status quo was king. No matter how bad things got, you’d always know that by the end of the episode, things would be back to normal. The rare exceptions were two-parters, but even then, it almost never had a lasting effect on the characters or the world. In sci-fi, this was usually a little more justifiable; when Kirk and company take off, they leave the planet of the week behind, and all the problems along with it. Other shows that didn’t have a starship at their disposal had a much harder time escaping that fact, often to the show’s detriment. And even running away aboard the Enterprise didn’t excuse the lack of character development that, say, Kirk’s infamous trysts should have had on him.

But once in a while, an otherwise episodic TV series would make a bold step, and that changed the show (or sometimes the entire franchise) forever. It might be a profound character moment, or the side effect of a planned retool, or even something as simple as a marked change in tone, but for whatever reason, these episodes took that status quo and shook it up so much that it never was quite the same.

And surprise, surprise, this list includes SPOILERS for the tagged shows, so proceed at your own risk if you aren’t caught up.

So, we’ve taken our look back at the whole of SHIELD‘s second season. But that’s a very big picture thing, looking at the season as a whole. This week’s Friday Four is going the opposite direction, to showcase 4 of the best moments from season 2. They might be shocking surprises, or awesome camera work, or great character moments, but all four of these scenes stood out in my mind when thinking back on the season. What were they? Let’s find out!

Now that it’s been a few weeks since the season 2 finale of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., we can get enough distance to take a look at the second season as a whole. This season was a marked improvement over the first, continuing the trend that started with the post-Captain America 2 episodes of season 1. It continued some plot threads from season one, but the main thrust of the season was largely centered on new territory for the MCU: the Inhumans. We’re going to look at three things here: the development of characters, the overall progression of the various plot threads, and some of the more general themes present throughout.

And it’s a retrospective, so duh: spoilers for all of season 1 and 2 ahead.

The 2 part season finale has arrived, and it hits a lot of highly anticipated points while still keeping some surprises, even for those of us who had some spoilers. Our endings range from bittersweet to just plain bitter, and everything in between… but the setup for next season! Well, let’s read on for a super-sized review.

Things take a surprising turn in the wake of Age of Ultron, which saw the series playing a big role without putting movie-only audiences out of the loop. Conflict arises between SHIELD and the Inhumans–and not necessarily from the people we’ve been expecting. And we’ve still got the finale next week!

This is a little something I’ve been working on in celebration of the release of Age of Ultron tonight. By using footage from the various TV movies Marvel put out in the 1990’s, I’ve assembled an alternate set of Avengers–well, minus Hawkeye. Sorry Hawkeye! See the video description to find out which movies I used exactly. Black Widow isn’t really Black Widow, unfortunately, but rather a character that’s very clearly based on her from one of the Hulk movies. Hawkeye and Iron Man had no such counterparts, so this ended up being the best way to do it. This is just for fun, so I hope you enjoy it!

Tonight’s episode has the duty to build hype for Avengers: Age of Ultron, and boy does it ever. On top of that, we’ve got a moment that has been in the making all season–the original cast is reunited, and things get ugly fast. Both character moments and show development take front and center, without letting the build-up to The Avengers overshadow it.

Cameos can happen for all kinds of reasons. Maybe it’s someone who’s been very important behind the scenes, or in the show’s history, and they wanted to get on screen again (or for the first time, in the former’s case). Just take a look at Stan Lee’s many, many cameos over the years. Or maybe it’s just that all shows have their fans, and sometimes those fans are famous people who can pull the strings to appear on screen. Or perhaps it’s just a notable personality–not necessarily a celebrity in the usual sense, but a politician, or a scientist, or a high ranking military officer in a military-themed project. Here are 4 cameos that hit all those marks, and have a little more to them to boot.

Another amazing episode as the various factions we’ve been introduced to this season start running into each other, and our wild cards keep dropping into play to complicate it even further. The march towards the finale has indisputably begun, and we’ve still got the Avengers 2 in between!